Purpose of education is to shape character: NHRC Chairman

Bhubaneswar: The purpose of holistic education is to shape the character of the person while enabling his physical, mental, moral and spiritual development, Mr. Justice V. Ramasubramanian, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), said on Friday.

“Education should form the character of the student while expanding his intellect, increasing the strength of mind and enabling the person to stand on his own legs,” Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian said while delivering a talk at the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) here.

Swami Vivekananda, the NHRC Chairman said, had set these four qualifying parameters for education to equip individuals with knowledge, intellect and spiritual awareness to live happy and fulfilling lives.

“A person may complete his or her course but no one can complete education as it extends from the womb to tomb,” he said.

SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda welcomed Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian while Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Dean of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, introduced the speaker.

Citing several illustrations, Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian said the education system should be able to equip the student with character, mental strength, intellect and self-reliance.

Quoting philosopher and historian Will Durant’s famous statement that education was the progressive discovery of one’s ignorance, he said everyone needed to understand this truth.
“We have lot of literate people but are we educated?” he asked while stating that the courses in colleges and universities only introduced the student to the knowledge available in this world.

Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian said most students these days were heard saying that they were ‘getting stressed out’, a term rarely heard 40 years ago, which only pointed to the fact that the present generation had been so pampered that it was unable to face any problem.

“This explains why we can’t have a happy life when we have good education and everything we need,” he said adding education had failed to strengthen the mind of students.

“Today it is success which matters but we don’t understand what true success is. Completing education or landing a big job does not mean success. Life does not look at success as we do,” he said.

Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian narrated the story of a very successful 45-year-old chartered accountant in the USA who lost everything he had during the Global Financial Crisis that hit the country in 2008.

“He didn’t know how to handle it and killed all his family members before committing suicide,” he said pointing out that despite his education and knowledge he did not possess mental strength.
“Do colleges and universities teach the students crisis management? People have degrees but are they learned?” he asked.

The need is to provide people the skill to face life and teach them the right attitude, he said.
Mr. Justice Ramasubramanian congratulated SOA Deemed to be University for the progress it had made during the last several years saying it had shown a lot of commitment.

Prof. Pabhat Kumar Sarangi, Professor at IAS, conducted the program while Prof. Renu Sharma, Additional Dean (Student Affairs) ITER proposed the vote of thanks.